CarlNaamanBrown Reviews

The Triple Echo (1972)

Alice: Prisoner of War (Movie: Intended as a tragedy, marketed as a comedy, sabotaged)

[5/10 · 7 September 2015]

(I have found "triple echo" referenced in cardiology, architecture, but most searches give returns to this movie or to the book it is based on. In square dance calling, a Triple Echo is to do concepts 1, 2, 3, then concepts 2 & 3, then concept 3. I do not recall an explanation by H.E. Bates even though I remember reading his essay on writing the book.)

"Triple Echo" UK 1972 was sold in the US as "Soldier in Skirts" 1973. US audiences expected a drag farce (maybe a "Some Like It Hot" in uniform) but instead were served a very dark tragedy. It did not go over well. Leonard Maltin gave "Triple Echo" 3 of 4 stars as drama; other reviewers gave "Soldier in Skirts" a dud bomb. I'll compromise at five stars.

The setting is the English countryside in 1943, the 5th year of WWII for the British. Farmwife Alice's husband is a POW of the Japanese and she is working their farm alone. The soldier Barton stops by the farm wandering about on leave from the Army.

Alice and Barton get romantically involved. He doesn't want to return to the Army. She doesn't want him to leave. They decide that he'll go AWOL.

She can't have a man living at the farm (too many questions) and the Army looks for runaway soldiers especially in wartime. So Alice disguises him as her sister Cathy from the big city. He grows into accepting the sister role living full time as Cathy.

Then the blustering sergeant from the local Army base shows up at the farm scouting for a date for the base Christmas dance (but expecting sex afterward). Cathy tries to persuade Alice it would be fun to get out of the coop and go to the dance. When Alice won't go, Cathy goes him/herself and tragedy descends. People expecting a farce or comedy were not prepared for the ending.*

Throughout the movie there are symbols like dark storms, birds free and confined, an ailing dog that has to be put down. People who like to study such things in films liked "Triple Echo"--people expecting a comedy hated "Soldier in Skirts".

What most people notice about the movie is that Barton starts off reluctantly being groomed and dressed by Alice as her sister, then grows accustomed to being presented as Cathy, finally becoming her enthusiastically. Barton's role reversal is obvious. I wonder what is going on in Alice's head. Reviewer Pauline Kael brought up an interesting point: groomed and dressed by Alice, Cathy is more feminine than Alice who is stern, drab and mannish for most of the movie.

Part of the book and movie is about traditional male roles and their impact on Alice's life. Alice is alone because her husband took up his manly duties and went off to war becoming a prisoner of war. The sergeant is a blustering male stereotype (the only comic element in the movie). Barton is AWOL--away without leave shirking his manly duties. Ultimately the story is about a lonely woman who has lost her husband to the intrusion of war into her life, then loses her lover to the intrusion of war into her life and then symbolically declares war on war itself.

______________

*SPOILER ALERT -- even though the movie ending is very different and more violent. In the book, at the dance the sergeant suspects "Cathy" is a man but says and does nothing; the next day Sarge comes to the farm to arrest the AWOL Barton and Alice shoots both of them. The movie ending is bloodier. It is tragedy, not comedy.

9 Miles Down (2009)

Middling

[6/10 · 3 July 2013]

Well, well, a movie based on the infamous "Well to Hell" hoax of 1989. The title "Nine Miles Down" is based on the English depth of the hoax well (14.5 kilometers) down. Allegedly in the Hoax a Soviet geological expedition bored a hole through the earth's crust, lowered a microphone and recorded the screams of the damned in a literal Hell (the recordings to back the hoax were matched to the torture chamber scene of Mario Bava's Italian horror film "Baron Blood"). In real life, there was the Kola Superdeep Borehole that was abandoned at a depth of eight miles. Fahrenheit 360, the temperature at which Soviet scientists gave up boring at Kola.

So here I am finishing this movie on Chiller channel out of -- boredom? expiation of my sins? nah, boredom. This movie reminds me of "Event Horizon" set in the Sahara. Excruciating at times, promising at others. Watching it with commercial interruptions detracts suspense so my opinion is guarded. I must admit I have seen much, much worse. The movie is basically a two character study, from the hallucinating (maybe possessed) mind of a security officer sent to investigate a remote rig and finds a single survivor, other crew dead in the freezer (a dead giveaway something's wrong), a well where screaming voices may / may not be heard, and growing suspicion of the survivor, a woman who reminds him of his wife who committed suicide. The actress does a good job of portraying different personalities -- distraught survivor, calculating succubus -- as the plot POV demands.

I watched it, I have wasted time on worse, but I don't intend to save a copy.

The Beast of Hollow Mountain (1956)

I remembered it from by childhood, and loved seeing it again

[6/10 · 30 June 2013]

Back in the 1950s, the big family weekend outing would be the drive-in movies. "It came from beneath the Sea", "The Alligator People", "Earth vs the Flyimg Saucers", "1984", "The Dam Busters", "The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake", "Love Slaves of the Amazons", etc. and (when I was 8 or 9) "The Beast from Hollow Mountain". I finally caught it again on DVR on TCM Thur 27 Jun 2013. For what is billed as the first Cinemascope and Color dinosaur movie, "Beast" has rough goodness.

And it is better than I remember. Surprised me. The dinosaur effects are some what better than "Dinosaurus!" 1960 (apparently the reviewers panning the FX have not seen "Dinosaurus!"), but it is not as good as what Willis O'Brien and Ray Harryhausen did together in Irwin Allen's "Animal World" 1956. I think the "Beast..." FX were billed as RegiScope animation in depth.

I have read that Willis O'Brien's "cowboys and dinosaurs" idea had been kicking around since before his "Mighty Joe Young" another movie where O'Brien and Harryhausen worked together. And after O'Brien's death, Harryhausen decided to make his mentor's unmade pet project as "The Valley of Gwangi".

The dinosaur in "Beast..." appears late and the conflict between the gringo rancher Ryan from Texas and the Mexican rancher Enrique, and the growing romance between Ryan and Sarita, Enrique's betrothed, occupies the first two thirds or three fourths of the movie. Mysterious deaths of cattle are attributed to rustlers and the ranchers' rivalry. But after the steer-chomping Beast makes his appearance, he has lotsa screen time in the last part of the film. (OK, I concede the tongue gets to be a bit much in some scenes. Looks to me like the tongue was rotoscoped onto the sequences shot with replacement animation.)

What has stayed with me from seeing this film over fifty years ago, is the scene where Sarita and the kid Panchito are besieged in a cabin by the Beast. That was scary then, and is still is a moment (or that may be my nostalgia acting up again).

Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956)

"People of Earth, Attention! .... Look to your sun for a warning!"

[8/10 · 3 February 2011]

Others have covered the plot in detail; I will share some of my memories and impressions.

Even as a school kid, from 1956 on I was well aware of the plans by US and USSR to launch satellites as part of International Geophysical Year IGY 1957-1958 and also aware of the Project Blue Book on UFOs (as well as reading Major Keyhoe in my dad's copies of True magazine).

When mom and dad took me and my brother Jeff to Highway 81 Drive-In to see this movie, I was sort of prepared. But not quite. This movie made a big impression on me as a kid and was the second Harryhausen movie I saw after "It Came From Beneath the Sea". I began looking for his name on movie posters to choose movies.

The ball lightning-like "Foo fighters" were interesting and tied into the UFO hoopla of the 1950s (having them turn out to be alien spy drones was a nice touch).

After the sparse saucer effects of movies like "Invaders from Mars", Harryhausen's putting his saucers front and center in detail with lotsa screen time for his stars (the saucers) was a welcome change (most other 1950s movies had a few seconds of good special effects as an establishing shot with a sound effect or musical cue, after that relying on the cue to imply or suggest the danger).

The faceless, handless spacesuits of the aliens were spooky. The aliens triggering solar flares to disrupt weather and communications created an atmosphere of helplessness, giving urgency to the search for a counter-weapon.

What cre-e-eped me out most of all was when captive General Hanley's brain was scanned for the "Infinitely Indexed Memory Bank" (we later see him as a mindless zombie and after that, the aliens unceremoniously drop him and another captive into a forest fire; these were not your friendly ETs).

The Operation Skyhook in the movie is based on Project Orbiter and Project Vanguard which started in 1954 and 1955, timed to put a satellite in orbit for the IGY 1957.

The saucer design, it turns out, was based on several independent descriptions given to Maj Keyhoe of a disc shaped craft with a stationary central cabin and a spinning outer disk with vanes or slots. This design was copied by Tim Burton's Mars Attacks! as homage to Harryhausen.

The 56 days to develop a new secret weapon to counter the aliens has been cited as an unlikely plot device. After this movie was released, the first attempt to put a satellite into orbit with a Viking rocket, Navy Project Vanguard, blew up on the launch pad 6 Dec 1957 (erasing the memory that the first 12 Viking test flights had been successful). After that the Army Explorer was rushed into orbit 31 Jan 1958, about 56 days later. Sometimes great things can be accomplished in a crush situation.

Some have complained that when the alien saucer landed at Operation Skyhook, the military opened fire before being certain what the aliens' intentions were. However, sensitive military installations are ringed by fences with signs that trespassers may be subject to deadly force; after all, the aliens flew over the gate station without getting proper passes, what did they expect? (Just kidding). In their defense, it might be pointed out that their message demanding a meeting with Dr. Marvin was recorded too fast to be understood until after the landing; but even there, their intent was to demand unconditional surrender or else.

Even though Harryhausen considered this the least of all his movies, I consider it one of my all time (nostalgic) favorites. The drive-in, mom, dad and brother Jeff are gone, but I have the memories of sharing this movie with them.

Six (2003)

a serious treatment of an important subject

[8/10 · 5 June 2009]

The murders of the Lillelid family and the subsequent trial of the Pikeville Six--the goth gang led by Natasha Coronet were a sensational topic in the local media. The crime covered by this documentary occurred about eight miles from my uncle's place in Greene county and I had often passed Payne Hollow Rd on the way from Baileyton. At the time I paid some attention to the crime reports and trial. I have seen a lot of coverage of this case, and Six is perhaps the most serious treatment of the important issues raised by this crime.

Six is a documentary by forensic psychologist Helen Smith, PhD about the murders of the Lillelid family (from Knoxville TN) by an occult gang of mostly teenagers led by Natasha Coronet (from Pikeville KY). Dr. Smith was writer and executive producer of Six.

The documentary focuses on the events leading up to the murders and the aftermath. The focus is on three failures: the failure of the schools and mental health system in dealing with Natasha Coronet and the members of her occult gang before the murders, the failure of the law enforcement to respond to reports from family members that the youths had left town in a car with stolen guns, and the fact the criminal justice system was at loss as how to handle them after the fact. The documentary holds the young people responsible for their acts, but it does not let the parents, school, health system, police or courts off the hook either.

The documentary proceeds in chronological order and includes interviews with parents, friends, law enforcement, prosecutor Berkley Bell, psychologists and others, to try to make sense out of what most will find an irrational and senseless act; the documentary tries to point out the warning signs and possible preventive actions that could or should have been taken to prevent this tragedy, or future tragedies like it.

Six is rather dry, but tries to hold the viewers' attention without sensationalizing the case: the focus is on the issues.

King Dinosaur (1955)

mea culpa

[2/10 · 29 May 2007]

I confess!

I liked this move when I first saw it.

(I was seven in 1955.)

As I recall, an asteroid had passed near the earth and made some stir in the news before this movie appeared. I suspected that was the inspiration of the plot.

(OK so THIS plot was NOT inspired in any way, shape or form. Waddaya gonna do, sue a seven year old kid?)

To a seven year old, an iguana propped up on its hind legs did a passable impersonation of a tyrannosaurus.

When I saw the movie again on MST3K, well, . . . . hey, I was seven and it was cool to me in the 1950s.

(Updt 19 Aug 2014: I found a copy of the 1957 World Book Annual Supplement (events of 1956) at the local book fair (the family 1955 World Book set w. supplements up to the 1960s was abandoned in a move in 1996). There it was: news of the near-earth asteroid Geographos discovered in 1951 named in 1956, predicted to pass 4 million miles from Earth in 1969. But barely 5 by 2 kilometers.)

The Siege at Ruby Ridge (1996 TV Movie)

a flawed but basic synopsis of a political tragedy

[27 March 2006]

RUBY RIDGE: AN American TRAGEDY

A CBS Television Mini-Series

Sunday 19 May and Tuesday 21 May, 1996

The movie Ruby Ridge: An American Tragedy is perhaps the most accessible summary of this case but it is not perfect: but, any attempt to present the events spread over a 1983-1992 time frame is going to be inadequate.

The Weavers were far from perfect people, but the reaction to the Weavers by federal law enforcement snowballed into an out-of-control situation that reflected badly on every agency involved.

Randall Weaver was caught up in a BATF investigation of his buddy, Frank Kumnick ("Tony Vickers" in the movie). After four years of BATF informant Gus Magisono presenting himself as a gun runner for a biker gang, Weaver agreed to make two illegal weapons in October of 1989.

In November 1989, BATF Agent handler Herb Byerly ("Burt Yeager") decided Kumnick was all talk and Weaver was just a hanger on. Byerly and Magisono intended to use Weaver to introduce Magisono to Chuck Howarth, move their investigation to Montana and drop Kumnick and Weaver. FBI informant Rico Valentino warned Weaver to avoid BATF informant Magisono. (Can we spell Turf War?) When Magisono asked Weaver to take him to meet Howarth, Weaver told Magisono people were saying he was a snitch and Weaver was not taking him anywhere. Byerly instructed Magisono to have no further contact with Weaver.

In June 1990, at a motel restaurant near town, Byerly and Gunderson approached Weaver with a deal to go undercover or go to jail. Weaver flipped Byerly's card in his face and told him where to go. Byerly filed an exaggerated report against Weaver alleging Weaver was a suspected bank robber. Beyerly had run a background check before approaching Weaver and knew Weaver did not have a police record.

Weaver was arrested and released with a 19 January 1991 court date. Pre-trial services sent Weaver a notice the hearing was moved to 20 March. The new date was actually 20 February; a fugitive warrant was issued when Weaver missed the hearing. Then a grand jury indictment was issued on 14 March before Weaver had a chance to appear in court on 20 March. This is complicated and is glossed over in the movie.

Marshal David Hunt ("Brian Jackson") was caught between a rock (US Attorney Ron Howen ("Matthew Duncan")) and a hard place (Vicki Weaver). The movie shows some of Hunt's problems, but does not explore the tangled obstacles raised by Howen.

In October 1991, Hunt was informed by the local FBI that both the BATF and the US Attorney's Office had exaggerated Weaver's connections to the white supremacists. Hunt developed a surrender deal that needed the signature of Ron Howen: Howen refused the deal insisting on unconditional surrender. Vicki refused to let Randy surrender without a written guarantee that she would keep custody of their kids.

Then the Weaver case was picked up by the Spokane newspaper and repeated by Chicago Tribune, New York Times, and others. This pressured the US Marshal Service HQ to start Operation: Northern Exposure.

The first half of the TV movie ends as the Weaver men are about to encounter three surveillance marshals in the forest at a fork in the trail called the "Y". The shooting at the "Y", the Ruby Ridge Siege, the Ruby Creek Vigil and Protest, and the Weaver-Harris Trial occupy the last half of the movie. At this point in real life, the Frank Kumnick ("Tony Vickers") character is out of the picture, and Weaver's buddy Bill Grider and wife Judy are represented by the movie characters "Tony Vickers" and his wife "Janice" which is why "Janice" pops up out of nowhere in the last half. Artistic license.

The shoot-out at the "Y" in the second half is a lot easier to follow in the movie than the real life incident: the real "Y" was in a dense Northwest rain forest; the reel "Y" is in California pine woods. As US Marshal Larry Cooper testified at the trial, there were so many things compressed into ninety seconds, it was hard to remember what happened first. Sammy Weaver, his dog Striker and US Marshal Bill Deagan ("Danny Barnett") were dead by the time the fateful fourteen shots were fired.

The reports by Dave Hunt ("Brian Jackson") to US Marshal Service Crisis Center got garbled by the time the info was passed by USMS HQ to FBI HQ to the FBI Hostage Rescue Team. The HRT Commander believed the gunfire lasted all afternoon into the night. Hunt's reports in the Crisis Center Log recorded several times that the last gunshots were heard at 11:15 am that morning. The FBI unfairly blamed the Idaho marshals for the miscommunication when it was a HQ USMS and FBI problem.

To sum up within 1000 words, Ruby Ridge: An American Tragedy is not a documentary but is a fair but flawed summation of the case. The movie does not candycoat either the Weavers or the government. If anything, it paints everyone dirty.

Except for the Weavers, Kevin Harris, Bo Gritz, Gerry Spence and Paul Harvey, all the other character names are fictitious including Vicki's family.

Reel names (real names): USMS Ross Jones (Duke Smith), FBI HRT Cmdr Earl Martens (Dick Rogers), FBI Richard Atwood (Danny Coulson), FBI SAC Doug Wilkes (Eugene Glenn), FBI Dwight Stanfield (Fred Lanceley), Roy and Eve Marks (Wayne and Ruth not-Marks), FBI Ken Yamasaki (Lon Horiuchi), Judge Andrew Stratton (Judge Edward Lodge),

In the Line of Duty: Ambush in Waco (1993 TV Movie)

Fact or Fiction?

[1/10 · 16 December 2005]

Saying that In the Line of Duty: Ambush at Waco tells the facts about David Koresh and the Branch Davidian is like saying It Conquered the World tells the truth about NASA scientists: the Lee Van Cleef character brought an evil alien conqueror to earth, those NASA guys must be whacked out loonies.

The screen writer, Phil Penningroth, has disowned this screenplay. He has pointed out that in the other "In the Line of Duty" series, the agencies were eager to tell their side of the story. The ATF stonewalled him and he had to rely on what proved to be falsified press releases from Washington.

From my own research, follow this time-line:

1992 July 30 Koresh knows he is being investigated. Koresh tries to get the ATF to come out and inspect his guns and paperwork. ATF agent David Aguillera refuses to take the phone.

1992 August 21-31 The infamous Ruby Ridge Siege against the Weaver family in Idaho convinces Koresh the ATF plans to do the same to him and his group.

ATF continues to build plans for a raid and Koresh becomes more paranoid. He and his lawyer go to the county sheriff and demonstrate that their guns are legal and they have followed all laws. The sheriff believes all ATF has to do was call Koresh and Koresh would have met them with his lawyer at the courthouse.

1992 Dec 4 - At the BATF Special Operations Division HQ BATF conferred with a military liaison officer about the availability of military assistance. The military officer informed the BATF that free military assistance would require a "drug connection" to the Waco investigation.

1992 Dec 11 - In Texas, BATF contacted the Texas National Guard (TexNG) for the use of helicopters. The TexNG responded that the BATF would have to show a war-on-drugs connection to get TexNG helicopters.

1992 Dec 16 - The BATF tells the TexNG that a disgruntled exDavidian told them there was a methamphetamine lab at Mt. Carmel. TexNG supplies three helicopters for use in the raid.

Later BATF named Marc Breault as the source of their drug information on Koresh. Breault had left the group in Sept 1989. Breault stated in 1993: "There were no drugs of any kind used during my time in the group.... Never at any time did I accuse Vernon (Koresh) of drug dealing or usage." In Nov 1992 Breault had told the BATF a meth lab had been run by 3rd party tenants in 1987 under previous prophet George Roden. Koresh had evicted them and demolished the cabin in 1988.

Not only was the raid on the Davidian's Mt. Carmel Center justified by a non-existent meth lab, the ATF raid plan was based on daily routine reported by members who had left in 1989 while Mt. Carmel Center was being re-constructed. The ATF plan was based on the idea the men would be outside working on new construction, the children would be in school, other men and women would be in town at their jobs, and the guns would be locked up in the main building. On 28 Feb 1993 all the men, women and children were in the main building for Sunday School (with the guns nearby).

Koresh may have been a whacked-out loony, but if you did not agree with him, you could pack your bags and catch the bus at the county road and leave his jurisdiction and a lot of members did just that with no bad consequences.

What scares me are the reviewers that seem delighted that the ATF attacked the Branch Davidians over their unpopular beliefs and lifestyle. ATF could have enforced the gun laws by accepting his phone offer to just look at the guns and paperwork on 30 July 1992. ATF has no legal jurisdiction to execute people over their religion or lifestyle.

"In the Line of Duty: Ambush at Waco" is a blemish on the record of the "In the Line of Duty" series: most other entries in the series are much more factual. ATF had too much to hide from the screenwriter.

A Bucket of Blood (1995 TV Movie)

surprise: a watchable remake

[5/10 · 11 November 2005]

I subjected my grandson not only to a VHS of this movie, but the DVD of the original version I saw at the age of eleven. He liked both.

The send-up of performance art in the newer version tickled my funny bone, but the update of Maxwell's poem clunked on a few lines. But today's audience probably would not recognise an "omnibus" any more than they would a broken record a broken record a broken record.

Nitpicks: Miller's original Walter Paisley cannot be topped and I feel this Carla is over the top; I preferred the more subdued Carla of the original: there are so many off the chart performances, the movie needed an anchor.

Paul Bartel and Mink Stole had an expanded role as the older couple seeking Art amongst the bohemians. They had fun with their parts and it came through the screen.

Apparently Roger Corman was grooming new filmmakers by a series of remakes of old Corman movies. This series is much better than any of the six movies (The Eye Creatures, Zontar, etc) remade years ago to fill out a AIP syndication package.

I caught this Bucket of Blood on late night cable and consider it worth my time, but I probably would not pay a full theater ticket price for it.

I plan to re-watch it after listening to some NPR art interviews.

Beginning of the End (1957)

scarieee movieee (at least when I was nine)

[6/10 · 27 October 2005]

Beginning of the End was one of the scariest movies I ever saw. I saw it at the age of nine at our local first-time A-flick theater, the State. When it ran at the second-run B-flick theater, the Rialto, I dragged my little brother Jeff to see it. He watched it from between the seats. We used to sit up and watch Shock Theater and we knew scary when we saw it.

What a lot of people miss today, is that the popular science magazines at the time "Beginning..." came out were full of speculation about using radiation to enhance crops and livestock, just like the experiments in Peter Grave's agricultural station in the movie. I also remember that Bert Gordon's earlier movie, King Dinosaur, came out after a close approach to earth by an asteroid was in the news. These movies were ripped fresh from the headlines.

Yes, the low budget values are low. There's the ponderous pseudoWagnerian Albert Glasser music Da-DUM-da-da-da-DA-DUM motif for reporter-driving-down-road, cop-driving-down-road, reporter-stopping-at-road-block, etc. We see the mountains of Illinois that look suspiciously like southern California (at least they did not use Bronson Canyon in this one (they didn't did they?).)

Yes, they do use the same stock footage three times for rear projection behind characters "driving" down the road, but, hey, they DO tint the stock footage for the nighttime driving scene.

But the woman reporter, Peggy Castle, is not only a good looker, but a strong woman who is treated as a equal by most of the men, who show her respect. She is a tough cookie like Beverly Garland in It Conquered the World. Not a typical 1950s bimbo or weak sister. I always thought Peggy Castle's character taught Peter Grave's character how to be a man.

And when Morris Ankrum is in uniform, you know however dicey the situation, right and good will triumph in the end. Even in the Beginning of the End.

This movie does have a message: if you park on a lonely road and engage in illicit teenage necking, you will be eaten by giant mutant grasshoppers.

The Visitor (1979)

p.o.

[29 September 2005]

When I saw this movie I got the impression that parts of the soundtrack was "filler" music, like they use in a rough cut or daily before the actual score is ready. Also, some of the scenes appear to be two versions of the same scene, one for a PG version and one for an R version. But both were left in. This movie left many of the members of the audience I watched it with totally peeved off. The others were just totally confused. I grew up on Roger Corman and Bert I. Gordon movies and I have a high tolerance for male bovine fecal movies, but this movie still makes me angry over twenty five years later. My son would say, I want the two hours of my life wasted on on this movie back! And I watched Manos: The Hand of Fate twice.

The War of the Worlds (2005 Video)

paved with good intentions

[1/10 · 29 September 2005]

From my first encounter with the Classics Illustrated version and my grandfather's gift to me of a paperback of the original novel I have always been intrigued by the idea of an "alternate universe" style telling of H.G. Wells' War of the the Worlds set in turn of the century England. I was willing to give this film a chance. Quite frankly this is a rough--VERY rough--draft of a movie, and is in bad need of editing, re-takes and re-working of many of the visuals. (I clicked the "spoilers" button, but I cannot see how I could spoil this movie more than its makers have already done.) There are CGI flames coming out of the ground at the landing site with no real rationale (did the crash release natural gas that burns smokelessly?) The Martians look like Spongebob Squarepants with tentacles. There are good effects and bad effects that undo the good effects. The set piece with the ironclad Thunderchild vs the Martian tripods was not well done. My overall impression is the makers had good intentions and great enthusiasm for their project; the result is interesting in parts but disappointing overall.

This movie cries out for a Mystery Science Theatre 3000 treatment: a MST3K version would be a merciful 90 minutes long (Two hours minus commercials); this WotW is 180 minutes heavily padded. I must take exception to the comments that this is a movie that Ed Wood would make if he were alive today; that is an insult to the memory of Ed Wood.